Egg hunt highlights latest in app technology

Alexandra Cain -Apr 8, 2012

Daniel Bradby, the director of Melbourne-based app developer jTribe.

A new mobile app allows users to chase their chocolate cravings around some of our famous landmarks.

Australian app developer jTribe has developed an Easter-themed app that should keep kids and adults alike entertained this Easter. It also showcases the latest developments in mobile apps, which are being keenly watched by businesses around the country.

EggRaider, which is available on the Apple app store and Android's Google Play, is a scavenger hunt that allows people to find virtual eggs hidden in the real world with a mobile device. Melbourne's Flinders Street Station and the Sydney Harbour Bridge are among those featured.

When users start the EggRaider app on a mobile they will see a radar which guides the user to any eggs nearby.

“When you hold up your phone you'll see a video image of what's around you and you'll see a three-dimensional image of the egg in the image if there's one nearby,” jTribe director Daniel Bradby says.

The idea is to collect as many eggs as possible, with points added to an overall score every time the user finds and grabs an egg with the app. The app includes a leaderboard so users can play against friends.

EggRaider is an example of the 'SoLoMo' technology trend. SoLoMo stands for social, local and mobile, and increasingly apps are being developed incorporating social media aspects, and deployed through mobile devices with location-based features.

Mr Bradby expects apps in the SoLoMo vein to become proliferate. Another of the app's features, gamification, or the incorporation of games into mobile apps, is also a huge technology trend.

“We're starting to see more and more clients use gamification to solve their business problems,” he says.

jTribe built the app to showcase the technology behind it for clients, and hopes Apple will feature the app on its store.

The Melbourne-based developer has built the platform to develop game-based apps and plans to work with clients to develop apps that have similar functions. Mr Bradby says this type of app generally costs “six figures”.

Recently jTribe has explored using the technology it developed for EggRaider for a Melbourne utility. The idea would be for the utility's staff to point a mobile device in the direction of a facility to access information about the pumps and equipment in the building.

“If these guys can imagine how they can use an app in their business plenty of others will be able to as well,” Mr Bradby says.

When jTribe was founded in 2008 it initially provided technology consulting services to businesses. But it switched its focus to solely developing mobile apps when Apple launched its app store. Banks and advertising features are among the clients jTribe's staff of six builds apps for.

Mr Bradby says the app market has changed very rapidly in little time.

“In the early days you could put an app on the Apple store and that was all the marketing you needed to do. But now the store is just a distribution channel. We're also finding many start-up businesses are building an app before they build a website,” he says.

Many businesses are also building apps that allow them to manage their operations.

“There are so many ways you can interact with an app – the touch screen functionality, email, calendar and location-based features mean they are applicable to almost any industry,” Mr Bradby says.

As for the future of mobile apps, another jTribe director, Armin Kroll, says it will become more and more routine for people to use apps in everyday life.

“It will become universal for people to interact with friends and colleagues using apps,” he says.

Mr Kroll also predicts there will be convergence between apps used across different devices.

“The boundaries between the way apps are used in home entertainment and mobile devices will blur. It's likely we'll see one big app ecosystem develop,” he says.